Software Opinion

Even though Microsoft won't say if it plans to end its 12-year practice of providing security patches on the same day each month to everyone, security experts have concluded that Patch Tuesday isn't going anywhere.

There's no guarantee that Apple will stop supporting Mountain Lion with security fixes: Apple, unlike Microsoft and other major software vendors, refuses to spell out its support policies. Instead, it leaves users guessing about when their Macs' operating systems fall off the support list.

Microsoft last week served up two updates to Windows 10 devices running the July 15 preview build, highlighting how much of a black box such updates may be to users who upgrade to the new operating system.

Microsoft's Keystone Kops-like revelation that Windows 10 testers would get a free copy of the OS may be confusing compared to Apple's approach with OS X, but it reflects the complicated ecosystem Microsoft maintains.

Microsoft's strategic shift to creating apps and services for rival operating systems was born from the hard realization that Windows' share of the total device market was in the middle of a three-year slump, according to new forecasts by research firm Gartner.